Making Amends
by JustAGirlWhoLikesToSayHi
Summary: Rina frowning is never a good thing," Ian thought to himself as he saw the girl enter his shop. A series of drabbles with no real connection to one another that revolves around the lives of the Gaians we all know and love/hate.
1. Making Amends

Making Amends

Disclaimer: I **DO NOT **own the characters in this story. They are owned by the creators of Gaia Online.

* * *

Ian grinned happily to himself. He and Rufus were having a good day. The shop had been making some profit with all of the customers that flooded in. Just a moment a go he had sold a pair of Charcoal Cat items to an eager young Gaian and now had to move on to another buyer wanting a bunch a of Block accessories. Maybe tonight, Rufus would stop badgering to get better fish.

The bell on the store door chimed as a handful of gold coins were dropped into Ian's hand as he finished serving the shopper. Turning to face the new customer, he said, "Welcome to Barton Boutique, what can I do for you…oh? Hello, Rina."

He was about to turn to another customer when he noticed the expression on her face. She was frowning. A frowning Rina was never a good sign. "Are you all right, Rina?" he asked.

Rina looked up at him, startled. Recovering, she plastered her usual smile on her face, "He he! I'm perfectly okay, kitty! I just came to visit… that's all…"

As she trailed off, the corners of her mouth faded back into the melancholy of before. Ian was certain something was wrong. Telling Rufus to man the shop, he led the young girl outside and sat her down on one of the crates that always littered the area of Barton Town. Bending down to Rina's eye level, he asked once more, "Are you all right, Rina?"

"I," she murmured, wondering if she should try to cover it up again before deciding against it. "I think Leon's mad at me. For about a week now, I've been doing my usual visits with him, but he doesn't say a word. Usually, we start our game of tag as soon as he sees me, but he just ignores everything I say and continues staring straight ahead. What did I do, Ian!? Should I stop visiting? No, I can't, because Leon's my friend and oh so much fun to play with! I don't know what to do!"

Tears had sprung up into the brunette's green eyes as her voice rose with every syllable. Ian was at a loss for words. He'd never seen Rina so worked up about anything that wasn't a trivial matter. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he said in soothing voice, "I don't think Leon is mad at you, Rina. Maybe something's happened that he doesn't want you to know about? What happened the day before he started ignoring you?"

Wiping away the salty droplets gliding down her face, she stared up into the midday sky as she tried to remember the other day. "Well, I came by as usual with a whole bunch of daisies in my arms. (They're such wonderfully colorful flowers.) I wanted to make a flower wreath and try to put some color on Leon's drab ol' armor. (It was so icky from all those times he's accidently fallen when he was patrolling.) I was 'It' as always, cause Leon started running. He can run really fast even when he's wearing all that metal. I chased after him, but some of the daisies fell. So, I went to pick them up when…"

"When?" Ian urged, gently.

"I was attacked by one of the Animated," she muttered in a barely audible voice. "A flamingo had wandered over to where I was and started scratching me with its plastic claw-thingies. I wanted to get away, but I couldn't leave those flowers. I'd picked them especially for decorating Leon's armor. As soon as it happened, it stopped. Leon had come and destroyed it with one of his rings. He had asked if I was all right, and I had smiled and said that I'd start weaving him his wreath. He was silent as I picked up the rest of the daisies. When I got up, he had already walked back to his post. Instead of working on the wreath, I went back to my shop. The next day, I decided to try again, but he ignored me then and still is now. Is Leon mad at me for not making him a wreath with carnations? I know how much he likes those…"

"I don't think he wants flowers, Rina," Ian said. He knew just what Rina needed to do.

* * *

The next day, Rina once again made her daily visit to Leon. She was carrying a basket with a red cloth hiding its contents. As soon as she saw he armored friend, she ran right up to him. Knowing he would still ignore her, she still began to chatter anyway as she set down her basket. Holding her hands behind her back she, smiled up at Leon's unmoving face.

"Isn't it a beautiful day?" she asked. "The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. And a Gaian is trying to hit her goof ball towards her next flag over there. Hey, look, Leon! She's coming over here!"

The Gaian wasn't just coming towards them. She was running towards them because a few Lawn Gnomes were nipping at her heals. Being a newb, she didn't stand a chance against the more powerful biters. Leon made ready to attack them as soon as she ran past, but Rina put an arm in front of him to block his way. With a huge smile, she revealed her other hand as the newb took cover. A flash of violet and the silhouette of a moaning feline ghost caused the gnomes to turn tail, waddling back to their fort to safety. Thanking Rina profusely, the Gaian scampered back to the safety of her home in the Towns.

Leon's mouth hung open as Rina turned to him. She grinned brightly up at the surprised man as he stuttered, "Wh…where'd you g…get the Scaredy Cat ri…ring?"

"I win!" Rina shouted with delight.

"Eh?" Leon uttered, confused.

"But weren't we playing a game this whole week?" she asked innocently. "You were trying to see how long it would take me to get you to talk. Right?"

"What…?"

"So I made a plan," Rina continued. "I figured that I had to surprise you into talking. (You know you're surprised face looks really funny.) This ring that Mr. Kitty gave me sure did the trick. Look Leon, it matches my eyes. And another thing is that I can protect myself from the Animated! Isn't that great?"

The words "protect myself" registered into the guard's head, and he realized what Rina's sentence was veiling. He had ignored her to stop her from always coming into the dangerous parts of the Village Greens, but now she'd found a way to bypass that plan. Shaken out of his thoughts, he realized that Rina had still been talking and was now uncovering what was in her basket. She faced him, and he saw the wreath of carnations and daisies that rested in the crook of her arms.

"I know how much you like carnations, but I couldn't waste those daisies that I'd picked. So I made this. (It's a lovely mix of both. Isn't it?)"

"Rina…"

"Can you wear it, please? I think it would match nicely with your armor."

Instead of trying to reply, the corners of Leon's mouth turned up slightly as he bent down to receive Rina's gift. At this, the girl's smile grew wider, and she gingerly placed the wreath on his head.

From afar and hiding behind a bush, Ian and Rufus sat side by side as they peaked through the foliage at the pair. A smile graced the half-blooded man as he watched. Rufus looked up at his friend in confusion.

"Ian, what are they doing?"

"Making amends," he replied simply. They continued to watch as Rina exuberantly took more flower wreaths out of her basket and threw them onto Leon's armor again and again and again…

The End

A/N: What do you think?


	2. Running Away?

Disclaimer: Yeah, right. Like I am one of the creators of one of the biggest forum-based sites in the world, which I'm not, so you can obviously tell that I own nothing in this story.

**A Day in the Life of Damian Von Helson**

* * *

The former blonde let out another yawn as he moved his pawn in an uncaring manner onto a square on the chess board. His feline companion let out a long 'hmm' as he considered his next move. Ian smirked internally as he watched Rufus think too hard about what he should do. This was the only amusing thing he could do today. Business was slow at the moment. A look out the window had him staring out aimlessly at the clear blue sky. The faint clatter of marble hitting wood alerted the half-vampire to his friend's final decision. With a sigh, Ian made a quick move before turning his attention back to his thoughts.

He wondered if those young Gaians he had sent to Deadman's Pass had defeated the OMGWTF yet. It was a mission he always gave soon-to-be-novice Gaians who were eager to fight the Animated and get one step closer to figuring out the reason for their appearance. Like all missions given out to these adventurers, they had dubbed it 'Denial of Service.' The reason why was beyond him, but he was just glad that there were so many young people who would go out of their way to help him out. Ian shuddered at the thought of the forbidding dark gates that led to an ominous familiar place that had once been his 'home.'

These thoughts were interrupted once again so he could continue his chess game with Rufus. For this, he was glad. Remembering his evil father, Vladimir, and the death of his mom, Rosalie, was always a painful thing to think of, which brought him to the subject of his younger brother, Louie. The young man was living with Edmund in Durem working at H&R Wesley, but at this moment he was manning the shop alone. He had been given a call by him recently that Edmund had left on a journey to find Gino to tell him the horrible new that his father, Johnny Gambino, was dead. Even though he and that man had never gotten along, Ian still felt sad that his passing had finally come.

"Ian, I know you're not paying attention to this game," Rufus said bluntly, catch his friend off guard enough to accidently knock the chess board, pieces and all, down to the ground.

Biting back a swear, Ian muttered an apology and quickly went to clean it up. Rufus just shook his head sadly and decided to finally say what he wanted to say. "What's bothering you?"

"Nothing," Ian said evasively as he put the chess board back on the table with all of its pieces scattered around the squares in tossed conditions that had them teetering on their sides. Another look from the tom's yellow eyes brought out another sigh. "Okay, fine. Everything seems to be bothering me these days. With the Animated loose all over Gaia and now Gambino's death affecting the bank system, what is there not to be bothered about?"

"Hmmm. Dancey-dancey won't fix this problem, will it?" when the man shook his head, Rufus continued. "What about some beer? Too early for that, huh. Do you want to talk to Louie?"

"No, he's probably too busy in Durem with Edmund gone for the moment. I don't want to be a bother."

"He's your brother, Ian. He would never think of you as a bother."

"Well, Gino's my brother, too, sort of, and he's always thought of me as a bother."

"But those were in the days when you both really liked Sasha."

"Who says I don't still like her?"

"Well, I don't know… Maybe because you…"

SQUEEEK! The two shopkeepers of the Barton Boutique whirled around to see a small, but familiar, face. "Peyo?"

"Hello!" the red-headed boy exclaimed cheerfully. The shrill noise they had heard was caused by his sudden squeezing of the rubber ducky he always carried with him. Besides his forever-loved toy, he was also carrying a small yellow backpack that looked like it was stuffed to the brim with miscellaneous things. "I was wondering if you have any yum-yums? I'm almost out of mine."

"Wha~" Ian sputtered. "What are you doing here, Peyo?"

"I'm um…!" Peyo stopped short of answering, apparently forgetting what he was going to say. "Oh, yeah! I'm running away!"

"Eh? But why?"

"So do you have any yum-yums?"

"Well I think I do have some in the back but….. Wait, what's going on here? Peyo, did something happen between you and Ruby, I mean, your mom?"

"Nope!" Peyo smiled exuberantly as he looked around the man to the door that led to the back. "Can I have those yum-yums?"

"Then, why?"

"Because I'm almost out of yum-yums. I already told you that."

"No, Peyo. I'm wondering why you ran away if nothing happened."

"Because he said it was fun!"

"Who's he?"

"The boy in the barrel of course!"

"A boy in a…? You know what, never mind. So this guy told you that running away is fun?" Ian questioned. At the kid's nod, he sighed and decided not to go any further on the subject as to why he decided to do it. "Did you ask him why it's fun?"

Peyo shook his head, "All he did was say that it was before shushing me and closing the lid on the barrel. But just saying it's fun is good enough, right?"

"Peyo, did you leave a note for your mom?" Rufus asked as he sat on his perch next to the forgotten chess board.

"Nope, I snuck away really secret-like while mom was talking to a customer," he replied in a matter-of-fact voice that gave away the pride he felt in himself for a successful sneak. "I could be a ninja ducky!"

"Peyo, what do you think your mom is doing right now?" Ian asked seriously, his arms crossed.

Noticing the sudden change in atmosphere, Peyo's grin wilted as he answered, "Mom's probably wondering where I am."

"Do you think she'd be feeling sad and scared?"

"Huh, why?" his soft blue eyes were now wide in confusion.

"She'd be sad that you left her all alone at the shop and be scared that you might not come back."

"But running away is supposed to be fun, isn't it? I thought it was a game!"

"Running away is never a game, Peyo," Ian said, internally wincing as he remembered his experience as a young child of being murderously chased through the forest by Zhivago. In this boy's case though, the circumstances were different but just as serious. "Running away means that you don't like your parents and you can't every go back home when you do it."

"I LOVE MOM!" Peyo exclaimed frantically. "And I have to go home. I forgot to bring my Kiki doll with me!"

The boy was now on the verge of tears, but a reassuring hand on his shoulder stopped him short. Ian looked at him with understanding eyes. "Do you know what you have to do now?"

Peyo nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Okay, then I'd better call…"

GROWL~! All eyes went to the boy's stomach, which had not been filled since his breakfast much earlier that day. The anxiety that had been felt in the trio had now seized to exist. "Um…can I still have those yum-yums?"

"Sure," Ian smiled lightly. "Just as soon as I call Ruby to come and pick you up."

"Can't you take me home?" Peyo asked innocently. "Mom's been wanting to see you."

A tint of red graced the man's cheeks as replayed the boy's words a hundred times in matter of seconds before finally snapping out of it enough to produce an answer. "I…I'll think about it."

"Yay!" the boy threw his arms up in glee, nearly dropping his ducky and dislodging some of the contents in his bag.

"Could you watch him for a moment, Rufus?" Ian asked his pal before leaving to make the call.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ri~! "Hello? Peyo, dear, is that you?"

Ian put his hand on the receiver for a moment to relieve his sore eardrums and give Ruby a chance to calm down enough to talk. "No, Ruby. It's me, Ian, but I have to tell…"

"I'm sorry Ian; I don't have time for this. Peyo's missing and…"

"Ruby, listen to me. Peyo is here with me at my shop."

"What? He's all the way out in Barton? But how? The Animated are still lose around the plains and…"

"Calm down, Ruby. He's fine. I…I'll be bringing him home soon, so don't worry."

"Thank you so much!" Ruby cried, wishing she could glomp him. "Will you be bringing Rufus as well?"

"Uh…" Ian paused for a second, sweatdropping at Ruby's extreme interest in his friend, the 'cutest kitty ever.' "He'll have to watch the shop for me today since I have to take Peyo home."

"Oh, well. Bring him back quickly; I have lunch waiting for him. It's his favorite," Ruby said in her usual pleasant voice before hanging up. Ian stood there as he listened to the line cut. It had been a while since he'd spoken to the attractive carrot-top. Since his infatuation with Sasha, Ian found that girls no longer mattered much to him, but when he thought about his relationship with Ruby it felt much more different than the other friendships he had. They'd met when they were kids, only about a week after he moved from his life under his evil father to a family of shop owners and their talking cats.

"REOWR!" Rufus' panicked screaming brought Ian out of his muse, rushing him to put the phone down and into the adjoining room. Peyo was currently squeezing the gray and white cat, wondering why he didn't feel squishy like his Kiki plushie. Ian put a hand on his head in exasperation.

"Come on Peyo, let's go. Your mom has lunch waiting for you back at the Rack," he said, gently lifting the defeated Rufus out of the boy's arms.

"Do you have the yum-yums?"

Ian smiled; his fangs gleamed dully in the artificial light of his store. Holding up a small pouch, he said, "Of course I do. Now let's get going."

"Hooray!" Peyo snatched the pouch out of his hands and cuddled it to his cheek. He looked up at the man with sparkling eyes. "Thank you, Ian."

"You're welcome, Peyo," he took the boy's hand in his and informed Rufus to mind the store before walking out onto the cobblestone streets of Barton.

"Do you think mom would mind if I ate a yum-yum before eating lunch?" Peyo asked the man as they walked toward the town's west gate. Though Zen Gardens was infested with killer Kokeshi Dolls and exploding Cherry Fluffs, Ian knew that adventuring Gaians would help them get to Durem safely.

"Oh, I don't know. She might if she knew that you ate one," Ian replied with a hinting tone. Peyo beamed as he understood what he was implying and quickly popped a yum-yum into his mouth, savoring the flavor.

"You're the best Ian," the boy said when he finished the yum-yum. Ian glanced down at him briefly and did not reply. There really wasn't a need to anyway.

**End**

**Thank you so much for reading this. If you could, could you please review? But not too harshly. Flaming a person could cause their self-esteem to drop and lead them down to the path of suicidal-ness, so it's not a good thing.**


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